194 ANIS, ROAD-RUNNERS, AND CUCKOOS 



Fig. 256. Road-runner. 



thumb marks except on middle feathers ; chest brownish white, streaked 

 with black; throat and belly whitish. Length: 20-24, wing (5.50-7.00, 

 tail 11.50-12.00. 



Distribution. Breeds in Upper and Lower Sonoran zones, from Browns- 

 ville, Texas, to San Diego, California, and from central California, Nevada, 

 and Kansas, south across tablelands of Mexico. 



Nest. Compactly built of sticks, lined variously with grass, manure 

 chips, feathers, inner bark, mesquite pods, snakeskin, and roots ; placed 

 in cacti, bushes, or low trees. Eggs : usually 4 to 6, white or pale yel- 

 lowish. 



Food. Mice, snakes, lizards, crabs, snails, grasshoppers, centipeds, 

 caterpillars, beetles, and cactus fruit. 



The road-runner is one of the most original and entertaining of 

 western birds. The newcomer is amazed when the long-tailed crea- 

 ture darts out of the brush and races the horses down the road, 

 easily keeping ahead as they trot, and when tired turns out into 

 the brush and throws his tail over his back to stop himself. Even 

 the oldest inhabitant likes to talk about the swift runner whom it 

 takes a 'right peart cur to catch,' and who eats horned toads, comes 

 to drink and feed with the hens in the dooryard one day, and the 

 next may be hunted vainly in the dense chaparral or cactus where it 

 makes its home. They tell you how they have seen it mount the 



